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DEAD ON THE FIELD OF HONOR. 



The following Tribute to the Dead Soldiers of the Union, is' from the Address of 

Rev. GEO/ W^^PEPPER, Chaplain U. S. A., 

Delivered at Wellington, in this State, on the 31st ulf., at the Decoration of the 

Soldiers' Graves. "'■ ~^'~~--. 



(From the Ohio State Journal.) 



Comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic, 

» and Fellow-citizens : 

In rcspoiuluig to your invitation to spealv 
at this .sokmii and beautltul ceremonial, I 
feel that uo happier event ever beteil me. no 
prouder emiitluu ever flattered me. Not- 
Wlth8tauding the severity of the vveattier, 
this is iufleed a splendid and a consecrated 
scene! Brilliant though It be, it is only a 
small and iuNignitlceui portion of that mighty 
chorus which commemorates in speech and 
soug the brilliant guilautry and sublime 
heroism of the patriot dead. Throughout 
this vast Comniou wealth there are songs 
sang, and there are ferveijt eulogies delivered, 
ant^^there are prayers offeied to the Throne; 
and there are thousands of free women, mov- 
ed by a gentle heroism, decorating every 
grave-spot with beautiful chailets ol flowers. 
All these honors are the highest expressions 
of the gratitude of the loyal heart towards 
those matchless soldiers who loved the coun- 
try -o well. Upon the banks of our great 
rivers, in the lo;;-hu'3 on the Plate, the 
Rio Grande, where the shaggy pioneer bears 
aloft the stars aud stripes, emblematical of 
civilization, is this day held with becoming 
reverence. In the valley of the Sacramento, 
in the golden gorges of the Yuba, away in 
toe dei^erts o( Aia.-ka, the great aud illustri- 
Dps deeds of the heroic dead are mentioned 
With devotion. 

The dead soldiers of the Union 1 IIow 
;rand the text ! They went to death with 
ill the raiiiaiice and enthusiasm of the noblest 
:hlvalry. By fnuh they subdued sidvery and 
.•ebellion. Thouijh thousands of them have 
ao splendid mausoleum to enshrine their 
ishes, though no t)f)mp maishalled their 
leaths, yet their memory Is sweet, and their 
isefulnees eternal as the duration of liberty. 
In a cause just and holy they suffered the 
OSS of all thinys, laying down willingly their 
Ives in dunneons, and even with a rapture 
mploring the stroke of martyrdom ! It may 
)e justly said of them, what an eloquent Eu- 



ri)pean said of those who fell before the walls 
of Buda, the consciousness of doing right, 
impressed on their dead feature**, proved them 
to be the nameless demigods of liOeriy. 

Since that fatal May morning, rich with 
roses, when the traitorous shot was tired at 
the flag of the Republic, many a noble form 
that marched to the music of the Union, has 
gone to rest. Long is the necrological list — 
sad, yet m ignificent ! 

The youthful and impulsive Ellsworth ! the 
quiet aud beautiful VVinthrop! the heroic 
Lyon ! Mitchell with his genial face and 
kindly heart, schoote(i in philosophy and 
science, trampling on the prizes of lettered 
ambition! AlcCook of the lion heart breath- 
ing out his life and in the agonies of disso- 
lution preaching to assassins the Gospel of 
the Union! McPherson, having his soul's life 
in the great cause of the country, sank beneath 
the cannibal blows of infuriated rebels, gap- 
ing upou him with their mouths as a ravening 
and a roaring lion. Who can recall that 
name, and not be impressed with a sentiment 
of unearthly greatrfess; his was a master 
mind; his was a consumiug zeal; his was a 
lioly heart; there was in him an assemblage 
of qualities which in all their power aud en- 
nobling forms, raise him to a parallelisn> 
with the noblest confessors and martyrs of 
Freedom. Even now, as I spt*ak, the silver 
ones of his voice, as I heard it on that fatal 
day in July, seem to float to us, and it will 
ever reverberate down the records of a brave 
nation's history ! 

How does the wave of the Chattahoochie 
seem to redden with his blood, aud to mur- 
mur with his name ! 

His companion and trusted friend, Gen. 
Rawlins, eloquently and beautifully said of 
him, that by the oblation of his death, he was 
raised to a higher command, the command of 
the Celestials 1 Surely the gallant McPher- 
son is there, listening to the music he loved 
so well, while his soul dwells on theenshrin- 
ed image of one, the power of whose eyes had 



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cast a spell over his life. Time would fail to 
tell of the brave thoasauds who fell on every 
battle-field of the Uuioa. Andrews, the 
student soldier, who had earned every leaf of 
his honored boys, bearing the boldest witness 
to the Union and the Constitution of his 
country! Lytle, wielding a power to which 
all difficulties yielded, gieit as a soldier but 
gentle as the flower which he loved to train ! 
Smith, the stripling, who defied the giant 
power of rebellion in its strongest defences, 
wiih indomitable heroism planting the ban- 
ners of the Republic where no power can 
cast them down, nor trail them in the dust. 
Then those master minds, Sedgewick, Wads- 
won h, Reynolds! Tne spectacle of our 
Martyrology grows upon us and oppresses 
us The heavenly archives have filled up 
with no mean names, the seal of the living 
G id touches many a bn^w, as noble victim 
alter viciiin falls in this waerfaie! Ettrnal 
in their dazzling beauty, they look down up- 
lOn the impotence of chains and rebel prisons, 
\while they walk in triumph and sing of a 
Victorious Union. Is it nothing to honor 
their example and experience ? Is it nothing 
to point to their labors, peril and splendor ? 
Should not such models be contemplated, so 
that the nation may never want heroes? 
Would that I could strew their graves with 
these rare violets and that they remained 
of perpetual beauty, bloom and fragrance! 
Pale, dreamless sleepers, their memories 
are dearer to their country now than when 
their life blood ebbed away. They feil 
in the war for the Union ! Their graves 
Iby day shall be watched over by the flow- 
jers of red, white and blue, and by night the 
;the constellated stars! Their names and 
deeds will never be forgotten. They will 
live in the hearts of their countrymen. 
Wherever Freedom plants her standard, they 
will be hailed as the champions of human 
Rights. Americans will always keep their 
memories green. The trophied Pyrgas of 
Mikiades on the plain of Marathon suf- 
fered not Themistocles to sleep. The beauti- 
ful actions of women, whose loving hands 
wreath flowers, emblems of purity, are the 
most sacred pledges that the patriot dead 
will be remembered. The statues of Themis- 
tocles, in Greece, long fired the Grecian heart. 
So let our spotless shafts of marble perpetu- 
ate in imperishable characters the undying 
fame of the dead soldiers of the Union. It 
was under such inspiration that a fiery young 
Greek, when standing on the plains of Mara- 
thon, exclaimed— "The trophies of Miltiades 
will not let me sleep!" 

A more appropriate and expressive token 
of aflection could not be shown than that 
which is signified by these fiowers, sweet 
bright things which gem the earth with 
their radiant beauty ; which array the na- 
tions in a style of magnificence, surpassing 
that of Solomon in all his glory; and which 
clothe the meadows and the forests with 



grandeur. Frail indeed they are, and yet 
how beautiful in their frailty ! how decked 
with white, and gold, and joyous colors ! 
I have said, that this is a sacred and bril- 
liant scene! Not in words gaily colored 
with the summer light, which sometimes 
on such occasions beautifies the syllables 
with which the mind gives forth its thoughts, 
do I desire to speak of the me.mories of the 
hour. The shroud, the sealed lips, the cold 
hands, and the beautiful head bound with 
the cypress wreath of death, forbid any other 
thoughts, than those suggested by the day. 
The occasion is suggestive of the indestructi- 
ble lone of liberty, which inspired our martyred 
dead. It was the thrilling cry of "Liberty 
endangered," that causedjevery height in the 
Free States to fiame with its beacon fires. 
It was this glorious love of Liberty that en- 
abled the soldier dead to face the red hall of 
death. For six thousand years tyrants have 
tried to crush it out of the heart of humani- 
ty. Th(-ir faggots, their Inquisitions, their 
Star Chambers, have been in vain! The 
more it has been oppressed, the more, like the 
fabled bird of Arabia, it has stretched its 
wings for loftier flights! .Its every ascension 
striking down to the earth, oppressors and 
throne builders. The dungeons, the convict 
ships, the swords, the guillotines, the black 
masks, and the scafl'olds of tyrants, have sig- 
nally failed to extinguish in the breast of hu- 
manity the generous flame of freedom. Rob- 
ert Emraett, old Ireland's brightest patriot, 
and the half million Union soldiers who died 
for this Republic, splendidly iulicate and 
establish the grandeur and eternal growth of 
human Liberty. The prisons, the graves, 
the fields, the gallows trees, where the glori- 
ous company of apostles, the goodly fellow- 
ship of martyrs and the noble army of re- 
formers sufiered and died, are triumphant 
guarantees that Liberty is from God and that 
its success is as certain as His Throne. When 
the flag of Columbia, the banner consecrated 
by our fathers to freedom was assailed by 
traitorous hands.a million patriots shouldered 
their muskets, and at the bugle call of Presi- 
dentLincoln.left loving wives, venerable moth- 
ers and beloved sisters. The.-e noble and elect 
ladies, with tears, glowing with enthu.siasm, 
standing on their threshold, imparted their 
farewell benedictions. Dear Liberty! Lovely 
and sacramental as Heaven's wide rainbow! 
Liberty, for which our faiber's fought. Liber- 
ty for which Henry plead! Liberty for which 
Warren, Montgomery aud Pulaski died! It 
was that this Liberty might be perpetuated 
that the nation is dotted over with the hil- 
locks and green moundsof our precious dead. 
Thank God, that not only at home, but 
abroad. Liberty is advancing her dominions. 
We see it in the potent specific muttered in 
the musketry of Madrid. It is trumpeted to us 
in the litany of rising nations. The Cuban 
movement will be victorious. Success to our] 
Cuban brothers! Hail to the Queen of An- 



tilles! My own greea isle has caught the 
generous coiita^iou. 

The touchiug ceremonial of to-day re- 
mincla us very surely of the glorious Patriot- 
ism of our pi'Opleat the outbreak of the war. 
Pfitriotlmn is a word that suggests the most 
stirring memories. It is invested with the 
rich and warm associations of that dear 
spot that sheltered us in infancy, and 
where we imbibed and exchanged some of 
the purest charities of the heart. It is a 
principle that is inherent and universal. 
iSplendid dynasties may change; present 
forms of government may be swept away ; 
but patriotism, love of father land will be 
as tender and as sacred in the world's gray 
age as in its primeval morning. 

What can be sweeter in its pathos than 
Virgil's touchini:ly beantiiul account of An- 
dromacfte flying from the wrath of gods and 
men, and building up in a new land a little 
Image of lier ancestral city of Sigeum. 

The noble poet Byron, in his tine tragedy 
of the ''Two Fcucari" illustrates and indicates 
one's love of country. 

How often hsis the American when wander- 
ing over the earth said wiih poor Jacobi: 

Ah, you never were far away from Venice. Never 

Bitw her beautilul fower^ in thf reiedinff distance, 

Wliils' every furr iw uf the ves-el's tri<;k 

Beeiufd p (>u(?hi!it< d'cp iMtn yoi r heart ! You never 

Ba* day go d )Wn upou your native spires, 

Bo calmly in its g')ld aud crTusnu tj ory, 

Aiid a'terdreiming a disturbed vision 

0( them and theirs, awoke and found them not. 

The Poles never forget their own beautiful 
l^oland. They clinij to the memories of their 
antique land w:th a rare and . "•.atchless at- 
tachment. Throu;ih the broad streets of 
London they will follow the hearse of Camp- 
bell, and when one of ih ir coui.trymen is 
entombed they throw upou his grave some 
^ holy clay, brought- from the fields of the 
Vistula. It Is a tribute not less sacred than 
the wedding ring to the genius which gave 
voice to the dreams, the martyrdoms, the 
great conspiracies for freedom, which for a 
century has made Poland the noblest of the 
European nations. 

How grand the patriotism of our own peo- 
ple in 18GI 1 Never on our soil was there a 
prouder pomp ! not when mustered for Wash- 
ington. The march of brave thousands to 
the seat of war was unparalelled ! A coun- 
try with such sons can never perish. AH 
nations had representatives in the Grand 
Armies of the Union ! How true the thrill- 
ing lines. 

Comrades ! around our camp flres bright 

Here's to our starry bauner 
That tlios acr iss the brow of night, 

God's choicest blesmnifo on her; 
And while men worship treedum's name 

Thev will man ea h deck and cannon 
A'ld flfe'ht 'Or Ireedom all the same, 

By Hudson, Rhine, and Shannon I 

The ceremonies and services of this hour 
also remind us of the valor displayed by our 
dead comrades. In active warfare the life of 



soldier is very different from that which is 
beheld on the day of review, when he ap- 
pears marching with the regiment, dressed 
in a gay attire, his bright bayonet glittering 
in the sunlight. On the field of battle the 
scene is different. Hardships great and mani- 
fold gather around him there. He has to 
confront a ruthless and an unscrupulous foe, 
who is sweeping on him to meet him with 
destruction blazing in his view. Who has 
been able to read of those terrible engage- 
ments in Virginia and the West, under Grant 
and Sherman, without a shuddering horror ? 

Where rushed the steeds to battle dnvcn; 
Wliere shooi> the hiUs liy thunder riven, 
Anl li)ud-r than the bolls of Heaven, 
Far flashed the reJ artillery. 

The bravery of our troops is the admira- 
tion of the world. Infinitely bright are the 
halosof glory which encircled the brows of 
these renowned baitallions. These valiant 
defenders of our liberties were the princes 
of the land. They belonged to its aristoc- 
racj' — the people. They were not the scum 
of the earth, as they were designated by that 
hoary-headed ruflian, Lord Brougham. No, 
by Heaven, ihey were your brothers and 
mine — the purest of the pure and the bravest j 
of the brave. They thought that liberty was 
worth blood, and they nobly died for freedom 
and for right. It is not irreverent for me to 
say that at the advent of Christian soldiers 
the everlasting gates fly open; that a grand 
ovation takes place; that on Heaven's im- 
mortal camping ground new tents are spread; 
that other mansions are opened; that other 
crowns of glory are set; that other golden 
harps are tuned; that the sealed throng 
gathers to itself new renown! 

These remarks of mine would be incom- 
plete and graceless, were no allusion made to 
the patriotism and loving devotion to the 
dead soldiers of the fair women of the land, 
the elegance of whose minds is best reflected 
in the graces and charms of their persons. 
Imitators of the diguifled Cornelia, who 
made her sons less worthy of the country 
that gave them birth than of their own great 
mother, who taught them how to die in de- 
fense of its liberties ; it was their delightful 
task to add the captivating influence of 
beauty and persuasion to the cause of liberty. 
It was their approoation that sent thousands 
to war; it was their prayers that steeled the 
arm of the soldier and crowned his brow 
with the wreath of virtue. In their flushed 
and exulting beauty, the ladies of the nation 
encouraged the youthful soldier to win their 
affection by deeds of glorious emulation. 
Like the heroes of -France, they were com- 
manded "to go flrst and deserve well of their 
country." Glory and honor to the ladies 
of America, who, throwing aside the 
shields of their physical weakness, followed 
in the wake of the battle storm, ministering 
to the suffering and dying soldiers on the 
fleld and in the hospital. What could be 



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deeper in its patriotism, more holy and 
loving in its devotion to the dead, than this 
labor of love in decorating by woman's 
hands the soft, rich earth and the quiet 
grassy graves vyhere our heroes lie buried. 
Requiscat in pace ! The unreturning brave ! 



Ye died not in vain ! With the courage of 
.patriots and with a love of Columbia, holy 
: as the saints, burning as the lovers, heroic 
as the martyrs. Ye have gone to your re- 
ward. May your beautiful memories be 
pious, glorious and immortal ! 



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